In early 2016, we began clearing out our father's 1500 square foot warehouse that has been used to store a seemingly infinite number of items since 1970. Our family owned a military surplus store in the 1970s, and he purchased surplus in bulk at Department of Defense Auctions from local Military Bases (Alameda, Mare Island, and Hamilton). All inventories that weren’t sold when the store closed (ci
rca 1977) were stored in this warehouse. He had accumulated many tools such as wrenches - a large number of 1-1/4" and larger that were used for ship building, CASES of fasteners, screws, nuts, washers, etc., most are aviation and nautical, general military surplus including clothing, patches, flight suits, flight helmets, and thousands of miscellaneous items. The collection includes a very large number of naval block and tackle (wood frames with iron sheaves and hooks, painted battleship grey, with single, double and triple sheave sizes), some helicopter and airplane parts (mostly hydraulic actuators/servos, some clamps and small connectors), and other random items such as office supplies, medical devices, small boat props, glassware, dishware, and "DANGER MINES" signs from the early 1950s just to name a few. Most of the military surplus was made and manufactured in the 1950s and 1960s and much of it is still in the original packaging with dates and part numbers. Our father purchased most of these items by the pallet, so the volume is overwhelming. In fact, the warehouse was packed to the rafters with boxes when we started. He did not exclusively buy military surplus; he bought the inventory from many local business that were closing their doors, such as a lamp company, a record store, and a number of book stores. This huge warehouse has slowly been filled with other random items purchased over the years, so we have countless glass lamp shades, vintage metal (mainly brass) lamp parts, and boxes and boxes and BOXES of books and LPs which we had already been selling online since 2007. We have worked extremely hard to whittle down the inventory to a manageable amount, so we are now, finally, able to slowly start putting some items up for sale. We will describe the condition and provenance of these items to the best of our ability and include multiple photos with every listing. Please see each photo for closer details and overall condition of each of our items. PLEASE ask questions - we are happy to provide additional information/photos upon request. Any/all cleaning/restoration/repair (if necessary) is the responsibility of the buyer.
